Star

Legacy sister story

Colt Ellsworth
For Aneki, my partner in many dreams

So make a wish, and do as dreamers do...Then all our wishes will come true...

Prologue

The howling in the distance of wolves, the crash of footsteps running through the undergrowth of the woods.

You will forget many things...as you must...

She clutched a precious bundle tightly to her chest, rapid and desperate breaths bursting forth as she pushed herself beyond her limits.

But of all the things that will fade from your memory-

A circle of stones, and fervent words spoken to the sky above. A small child crying as she tried to comfort the tears away, and the wolves coming closer. Bright light then made everything else fade away.

Do not forget the love.

He opened his eyes and stared at the darkening sky. Everything felt sore as he got to his feet, feeling dizzy and sick. He tenderly felt his face, the bulge forming over his eye and on the top of his head. He wiped his face free of tears and blood as he walked towards the small chapel, the soft light in the windows inviting him closer.

"The first commandment is 'Thou shall have no other gods before me'." The words echoed out through the hall, where several children sat in the narrow, hard pews. "Do not place anything before your God, that is the first commandment and one of the greater sins."

The door to the chapel slowly opened a crack, and almost all the heads turned to see who would dare come late to the lesson. There came a moment of hesitation, which Father Robert promptly broke by striding across the room and opening the door. The bedraggled child stood in the doorway, looking down at his worn and tired sneakers.

"Lucas?" the father asked, confused.

The long haired boy looked up at the priest, the light hurting his injured eye. "Sorry I'm late Father," he mumbled, wiping at the blood trickling from his split lip with a fist. "I have no excuse."

The priest surveyed the boy's clothes, taking note of the mud stains on the bandages wrapped about his right hand. "What happened?" he asked gently.

"Tripped." The lie was shockingly apparent, but the aged priest knew he would get little else out of the young boy. Lucas moved to step around Father Robert, and several giggles echoed at his appearance. Father Robert frowned at the offenders as Luke took his seat on the boy's side of the classroom.

With a heavy sigh, the priest returned to the lesson. "One instance where the power of God was shown is in the story of the priests of Baal, when Elijah challenged them to test the power of Baal against the one and true God..."

Luke felt a tug on his hair and winced, his scalp already sore with a large bruise. "Hey, murderer, where's your book?" someone whispered behind him. "Oh yeah, you can't read, can you?" Lucas tightly shut his green eyes, wishing he could close his ears as well. Instead, he tried to focus completely on the familiar and gravelly voice of Father Robert, seeking comfort in his words.

"After the priests of Baal prayed and danced for hours, they finally gave up. Elijah had the altar of stones, the sacrifice, and the wood doused with water until all were soaked and the small ditch dug around the altar was filled..."

Again came a tug on his hair, followed with, "We all know you shoved her."

"I didn't," he whispered. "I swear I didn't kill her..."

"Murderer," the boy next to him spat under his breath. "Are you going to kill us too?"

"I didn't kill her." the desperate words came again, louder. "She...she-" Luke could feel tears coming to his eyes, and he tried to force them back. Sister Rebecca had told him he was too old to cry anymore.

"The fire of the Lord came down and consumed not only the sacrifice and the wood, but the stone altar, the dust of the earth, and the water as well. Such, it was a sign from the Lord that he was God..."

The boy behind him started kicking his seat while chanting 'murderer' under his breath.

"Do not put your faith in anything but God, for that is a sin-" Father Robert stopped short as Luke, faster than his eyes aged with scriptures could register, tackled the boy behind him with his small hands wrapped around the other's throat.

"I am not! I am not!" Luke's shouts filled the small classroom, soon drowned out by the screams of the other children. "I didn't kill her!"

"Lucas! Let go of him!" Father Robert yelled, trying to pull the young boy off his classmate. "Lucas!"

Luke's face was streamed with tears as Father Robert finally pried his fingers off and held the child tightly in his arms, as Luke kept screaming his protest over and over at the top of his lungs. Some sisters entered and tried to restore order among the children, while Father Robert tightly held Luke to him.

"I didn't I didn't I didn't-"

"It's okay, Lucas," Father Robert murmured in his ear. "Of course it wasn't your fault."

"It's all his fault!" the offended boy hollered at the top of his lungs, fighting against the sister trying to lead him away from Luke. "We all know Laura died because of him! He killed her! He killed her!"

Father Robert felt Luke's body tense and shake in his arms. "Sister Rebecca," he called desperately. "Please, take Lucas to the infirmary and re-bandage his hand. I'll be there in a moment."

The young woman nodded, and gently led Luke out of the room. He didn't speak and hung his head, hiding the streaming tears with his long, ratty blonde hair. He didn't speak when she set him on a bed, only folded his legs up next to him. She got a washcloth and gently lifted his face to clean away his tears.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, his green eyes saturated. She shook her head and smiled gently.

"It's all right, Lucas," she replied tenderly, and he hissed as she rubbed at the forming bruise on his eye. "Who did this?" He didn't answer, and she let it drop.

She removed the bandage around his hand and wrist. "Does it hurt?" she asked, inspecting the long wound on the top of his arm, stitches holding the skin together.

"Not really." He rested his mouth against his knees as she replaced the bandage. He liked the feeling of her soft fingers against his skin, and the clean bandage wrapped firmly about the painful wound.

Finished with her task, she sat on the bed next to him and hugged him tightly. He didn't respond. She released him with a sigh, and looked at him. "Your hair has grown out more," she observed. "Would you like to dye it again?"

"Yes please," he mumbled in his knees.

"Do you want a different color this time?" She fingered the fake blonde strands. "Try something new?"

"No. I like yellow." He looked to her blonde hair, the little that was shown from under the habit.

The door opened and Father Robert entered as she nodded. "Blonde it is, then."

"Lucas..." Father Robert started with a kind smile that crinkled at the corner of his eyes. Luke looked up at him from under his bangs, still not sure if he would receive a punishment or not for attacking a peer. "Is your hand doing better?"

The boy nodded, wincing as his split lip rubbed against his leg.

"What happened today, Lucas?" he asked. "Matthew already told me his side of the story."

"Nothing happened, Father."

Father Robert and Sister Rebecca exchanged a look, and Father Robert sighed as he lifted his hand to rub at his forehead. Luke visibly flinched at the movement. "Sister Rebecca, could you please give Lucas and me a moment?"

She nodded, and left the boy and priest alone. He looked at the child on the bed, curled up tightly against himself.

"I'm sorry," Luke blurted quickly, lowering his head even farther. "I'm sorry I'm sorry-"

"Lucas, stop," Father Robert gently ordered. "I'm not mad at you. But you need to tell me what Matthew said to make you act that way."

Luke remained silent for a moment, before finally whispering, "I didn't kill Laura, Father. I promise I didn't."

"I know, Lucas. She committed suicide. Do you know what that means?" Luke shook his head. "It means she took her own life. She killed herself. It was no one's fault."

Luke hugged his legs closer to himself, the pressure against his chest starting to hurt. "Why?" he whispered brokenly. "Why did she kill herself?"

Father Robert sighed, before slowly replying, "I don't know."

Seemingly out of nowhere, Luke suddenly added, "I had that dream again." He raised his head and looked up at the priest. "The doctor said the pills would make it stop."

The religious man thought for a moment, trying to recall which dream Luke would be referring to. Knowing that, Luke told him, "The one with the lady and wolves."

Father Robert nodded. "I'll tell Sister Rebecca to give you two pills tonight. That should stop the dream." He moved for the doorway, speaking to the boy behind him as he did. "You may stay in here tonight, if you want."

"Thank you," Luke mumbled. He watched as the priest started to open the door, before quickly unfolding himself and calling after the man, "Father? Is Laura in heaven?"

Father Robert paused, and looked back at the desperate child. "No, she is not," he stated quietly. "To kill yourself is a sin."

"But Laura had to go to heaven." Luke fingers tightened around the blanket on the bed, and pain flared from the wound on his arm. "There she can fly, right? With the stars? She wanted to touch the stars-"

Father Robert only shook his head with a sad smiled at the boy's naivety. "Heaven is far, far beyond the stars, Lucas."

"But where?" the boy demanded, aching for some answer. "If God is in heaven, then where is it? And why isn't he here?"

The priest moved back to the boy's bed. "You're tired and it's late," he chided gently. "Go to bed for now."

"But Father..." Luke started.

"Lucas-"

"Where is God? How can I worship someone who won't answer me? If he answered Elijah's call, why can't he answer mine?"

"I will explain in the morning." Father Robert patted the boy's head, a move Luke hated because it felt degrading. "For now, sleep. Rest your mind."

Luke finally fell into silence and let the priest leave the room. He stared at the wall, knowing Sister Rebecca would come in soon with his pajamas and medicine that was supposed to stop the strange dreams. He shut his eyes and recalled the images and sounds. A woman's desperate breaths and the howls of the wolves behind her. Trees and stones...the bright light, and the gentle words spoken. They didn't make sense, even to him.

As they faded from his mind, he opened his eyes and stood up from the bed. He moved to the glass windows, bars on the other side that had been installed shortly after Laura's death.

He put his hand against the window, wishing he could open it. He looked up at the sky, the city lights making the stars fade into the dark blue. Only a few meekly made their way through the haze, a soft reminder that the stars were really there and weren't another trick played on his mind. He blew on the glass, causing a cloud, and waited until it disappeared. The words Father Robert spoke filled his mind momentarily. Do not put your faith in anything but God, for that is a sin...

Luke inhaled slowly, before tenderly whispering words Laura had rehearsed to him. "Star light, star bright. First star I see tonight. I wish I may, I wish I might...have the wish I wish tonight..."